Monday, June 26, 2006

David Archbold Managing Director of the ICTA	Don Seymour Director of dms Broadcasting

Even with some thirteen stations already transmitting, more stations are coming to the Cayman Islands after the lifting of the moratorium on licences by the Information & Communications Technology Authority (ICTA).

A fortnight ago, the ICTA met to review this matter in light of a long outstanding application from Hurley's Entertainment who complained recently of being ignored.

The board last week decided to grant Hurley's Entertainment the licence to operate a new FM station but remained tight-lipped on the type of broadcast format it would take.

The new station will be the company's third and will operate on 103.1 on the FM frequency band.

Currently, the company runs Rooster 101.9 FM and Z99 FM, which cater to different audiences in the Cayman Islands.

Also on the horizon are two gospel stations that plan to set up shop here in the near future. Their applications are before the ICTA at this time.

If licences were given to both organisations, it would take the number of radio stations to 19. Heaven 97 and Gospel FM are two existing gospel stations on Grand Cayman.

Meanwhile, the ICTA has confirmed that dms Broadcasting has been successful in their bid to have the licence of Style 96.5 FM re-assigned to them.

Last week, the board granted the licence, which paved the way for acquisition of Style 96.5 FM and now gives dms Broadcasting their fourth radio station.

In the dms family already are Hot 104.1 FM, Kiss 106.1 FM and X 107.1 FM - all located at their broadcasting house at the Mirco Centre in George Town.

Earlier this month Hurley's Entertainment and Paramount Media, the proprietors of Vibe 98.9 and Spin 94.9 FM, objected to the licensing body giving dms Broadcasting the licence.

"The authority is fully aware that a significant number of licensees and customers in the Cayman Islands have complained about the blanketing interference caused by the current operation of the dms Broadcasting facilities in George Town," they wrote to the ICTA.

Managing Director of the ICTA David Archbold told Cayman Net News that Government, dms Broadcasting, other broadcasting houses and his organisation have been meeting to remedy the situation of signal interference.      

Mr Archbold said one of the best ways to solve the problem is to hook up all radio stations to one central tower and install equipment to combine the signals on one antenna.

The Northward tower in the Bodden Town District has been identified as a possible site for relocation of the antennas of all the radio stations on Grand Cayman.

Another issue has been the saturation of the market with some protagonists suggesting that in a country with a population of approximately only 55,000 people the market will not sustain so many different broadcasters.

Don Seymour, Director of dms Broadcasting who now holds four of the licences, told Cayman Net News several months ago that there would be consolidation eventually throughout Cayman's radio industry.

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